UConn 65, Notre Dame 58: Wrapping Things Up From South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notes, quotes and thoughts in the wake of UConn’s 65-58 win over Notre Dame.

,,, Have to be happy for Tyler Olander. The kid has been getting maligned all year, but the coaches stuck with him, and he kept at it and here he breaks through.

“It’s definitely rewarding,” he said, “things weren’t working out for me at the beginning of the season. I stuck with it and kept working hard and got into the gym. It feels good to have the hard work pay off.”

Olander really showed some muscle and assertiveness in this game, hitting 8 of 9 from the floor. He is the topic of Jeff Jacobs’ column, which will be on our main website later today and in the Sunday Courant.

He was also the subject of a new “Ollie-ism.” Said the coach, “Time, seed and harvest. The seeders come first, then the time and then you have the harvest.” Here is Ollie’s take on the game, in a previous post.

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Shabazz Napier scored 19 points. He has been playing especially well of late, and it really was a shame he was not among the 20 finalists for the Cousy Award. “Even when I was a little kid, I didn’t care about individual awards,” he said. “I just want my team to win.”

Anyway, here are the 20 point guards that made it:

Jahii Carson, Arizona State University
Pierre Jackson, Baylor University
Quinn Cook, Duke University
Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga University
Keith Appling, Michigan State University
Isaiah Canaan, Murray State University
Kendall Williams, University of New Mexico
Lorenzo Brown, North Carolina State University
Aaron Craft, Ohio State University
D.J. Cooper, Ohio University
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State University
Nate Wolters, South Dakota State University
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse University

Mark Lyons, University of Arizona
Ray McCallum, University of Detroit Mercy
Peyton Siva, University of Louisville
Trey Burke, University of Michigan
Andre Hollins, University of Minnesota
Phil Pressey, University of Missouri
Erick Green, Virginia Tech

As you see, Napier will  go against one of them, Louisville’s Peyton Siva, on Monday night. Napier is the topic of the UConn notebook in the Sunday Courant.

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Huge win for UConn, to start this brutal stretch of Big East games. The Huskies are playing with house money against Louisville, far as I’m concerned. But at this point, a 20-win season can’t be considered out of the question any more.

They showed impressive mental toughness, especially over the last 64 seconds, out-scoring Notre Dame 7-0 to close it out. Here is my main game story from the Sunday Courant.

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Got the chance to say hello to Tanesha Boatright, Ryan’s mom, after the game. She was very emotional, of course, after seeing her son hit the clutch free throws to win it. Here are some great pics from our Rich Messina from  the day.

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Ryan Boatright said UConn will have to be ready to handle Louisville’s ball pressure Monday. The Huskies have a day to work on it. “Whether we have one day or five days, we’re going to do what we do,” Ollie said. Obviously, more coming on that tomorrow.

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UConn has, in recent years, ended ND home winning streaks of 45, 29 and 17 games. ND has won 46 of its last 48 at home, and both losses are to the Huskies. Here is your box score.

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Another tough day for Omar Calhoun: 1 for 6, 0-for-3 from three. Back to the drawing board there.